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Available
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Publication
Penguin UK (2006), 400 pages
Description
Francesco di Marco Datini, the 14th-century Tuscan merchant who forms the subject of the Marchesa Origo's study, has now probably become the most intimately accessible figure of the later-Middle Ages. In 1870 the whole astonishing cache, containing some 150,000 letters and great numbers of business documents, came to light. The Marchesa Origo has drawn on this material to paint, in detail, a picture of Italian domestic life on the eve of the Renaissance.
User reviews
LibraryThing member herschelian
Reading this is the nearest one will ever come to actually living in a Medieaval Italian town. One gets a fantastic insight into daily life - in glorious detail. Datini - the Merchant of Prato - is not a man one would wish for a husband, he is such a control freak, lacking sensitivity towards his
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wife and family, and mean with his money. I suppose that is how he became a successful merchant in the first place. The times in which they all lived were crude and violent, people lived within very small areas, and yet life still has its pleasures. This book is a MUST for anyone interested in Italian history. Prato still exists although it has almost been absorbed into the sprawl of greater Florence, and more importantly, one can still visit the Datini house. Show Less
LibraryThing member barlow304
What a fascinating creature was Francesco di Marco Datini! Living in the 1300s, he created a large trading company with partnerships in Spain, France, and throughout northern Italy. Spices, wool, fine cloth, armor, slaves, banking--if Francesco thought he and his partners could make a profit, he
Yet for all his wealth, he was an anxious, grasping man and a difficult husband. From his private letters, the sources for Iris Origo's magnificent biography, Francesco emerges as constantly worried, anxious about each cargo and afraid of being cheated. His private letters also give us a glimpse of his household, including his younger, spirited wife Margherita and his steady, charitable friend Ser Lapo.
The book has two parts: one devoted to his business dealings and one to his private affairs. So we can learn about the organization of trade in the trecento, complete with careful accounting and ways to mitigate risk, and later learn about the typical life of a rich man who has to manage his household, his wealth, his friends, and his family.
All together fascinating! I recommend this book to anyone who wants to live in Tuscany during the 14th century, at least in his or her mind.
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traded in it. Yet for all his wealth, he was an anxious, grasping man and a difficult husband. From his private letters, the sources for Iris Origo's magnificent biography, Francesco emerges as constantly worried, anxious about each cargo and afraid of being cheated. His private letters also give us a glimpse of his household, including his younger, spirited wife Margherita and his steady, charitable friend Ser Lapo.
The book has two parts: one devoted to his business dealings and one to his private affairs. So we can learn about the organization of trade in the trecento, complete with careful accounting and ways to mitigate risk, and later learn about the typical life of a rich man who has to manage his household, his wealth, his friends, and his family.
All together fascinating! I recommend this book to anyone who wants to live in Tuscany during the 14th century, at least in his or her mind.
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Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1957
Physical description
400 p.; 5.08 inches
ISBN
0140172181 / 9780140172188
DDC/MDS
| 380.10924 |